Cairns office market experiences limited sales activity: HTW
The Cairns office market is relatively shallow and experiences limited sales activity and has had limited new development, according to the latest Herron Todd White (HTW) commercial report.
The last large office building constructed in Cairns was the State Government office tower completed in 2010. There are no known new developments in the pipeline.
Commercial property sales in Cairns, inclusive of retail and commercial office premises, remain well below the peak levels achieved in the 2005 to 2007 period.
Prices paid for secondary strata titled premises have been relatively stable since 2010 at around $2,500 to $3,000 per square metre of floor area.
Most new office space leasing demand is for smaller areas and for modern, good quality green star rated premises, however there is only a handful of such buildings in Cairns.
These buildings achieve high levels of occupancy and are experiencing stable rent levels typically of $350 to $400 per square metre per annum.
Demand for lesser quality space remains limited and there is a large oversupply of good quality non-inner CBD and well exposed secondary space in the $200 to $275 per square metre per annum rental range. These conditions have placed downward pressure on secondary rents and seen the emergence of incentives.
Overall the Cairns office market has experienced little change thus far during 2018 and is expected to see little change for the remainder of the year.
A current listing is a Cairns City commercial office priced at $150,000 (pictured below).
It has been listed by Chris Gay Real Estate.
Located at 23/25-31 Grafton Street, the 50 square metre office is currrently tenanted with a return of $12,785 per annum.
Another offers around $900,000 is Cairns City building with long term tenants in place (pictured below).
Situated at 22 Minnie Street, it is two blocks from the Cairns Central Shopping Centre.
It features 410 square metre land area, 359 square metre floor area and four off-street parking spaces.
